You’ll never look at the world the same way again.
Monsters is a syndicated horror anthology series which originally ran from 1988 to 1991 and reran on the Sci-Fi Channel during the 1990s. Similarly to Tales from the Darkside, Monsters shared the same producer, and in some ways succeeded the show. It differed in some respects nonetheless. While Tales sometimes dabbled in stories of science fiction and fantasy, this series was more strictly horror. As the name implies, each episode features a different monster, from the animatronic puppet of a fictional children's television program to mutated, weapon-wielding lab rats.
The Feverman (Episode 1) 4.0
Writer: Neal Marshall Stevens
Air date: 1988-10-22
Runtime: 22 min
Overview: When a doctor is unable to heal a man's sick daughter, the desperate father goes to a 'Feverman', a mysterious healer who literally fights the illness by summoning a physical manifestation of it from within the patient. The doctor, angry at the father's belief in superstition, tries to expose the Feverman as a fraud. In doing so, not only does he learn the truth, but there's also a price to pay for faith.
Holly's House (Episode 2)
Air date: 1988-10-29
Runtime: 22 min
Overview: Katherine is the star of Holly's House, a popular children's television show. Holly herself is a remote-controlled child-size robot. When Katherine is linked to the robot via wires and radio waves, she can make Holly walk and talk like a real person. Lenny, who plays 'Mike the Mailman', has gotten Katherine pregnant and asks her to marry him. But a stressed-out Katherine begins to think Holly is talking to her, and 'Holly' becomes jealous of Lenny and others on the show. Is Katherine going mad, or is something sinister going on?
New York Honey (Episode 3) 1.0
Writer: Harvey Jacobs
Air date: 1988-11-05
Runtime: 22 min
Overview: A greedy married man blackmails his eccentric beekeeper neighbor to profit off his tasty honey. He also falls for the beekeeper's mysterious, seductive vamp girlfriend.
The Vampire Hunter (Episode 4)
Writer: Edithe Swensen
Air date: 1988-11-12
Runtime: 22 min
Overview: Can famous vampire hunter Ernest Chariot save his assistant Jack before his old enemy Charles Poole can kill the young man, or worse, turn him into another bloodsucker?
My Zombie Lover (Episode 5) 2.0
Writer: David Misch
Air date: 1988-11-19
Runtime: 22 min
Overview: One night each year, the dead come back to life. A young zombie falls for his living female classmate but his hunger for human flesh and her prejudiced, zombie hunter father stand in the way of their happiness.
Where's the Rest of Me? (Episode 6)
Writer: Richard Benner
Air date: 1988-11-26
Runtime: 22 min
Overview: In a right-wing South American dictatorship on the verge of leftist rebellion, mad scientist Dr. Willard Wingite keeps a rebel's cadaver alive to harvest its organs for his rich friends. But the undead rebel decides to get his organs back.
The Legacy (Episode 7)
Writer: John Harrison
Air date: 1988-12-03
Runtime: 22 min
Overview: Dale finds the private sanctuary of late horror icon Fulton Pierce. Dale can see Fulton's image in the old makeup case that was owned by the actor, and his life soon goes down a dark road.
Sleeping Dragon (Episode 8) 9.0
Writer: Michael Reaves
Air date: 1988-12-10
Runtime: 22 min
Overview: A mysterious prehistoric capsule is found outside Reno. Four scientists study it, but a lizard-looking monster hatches from it. With a heavy snowstorm raging outside, they must fight for their survival.
Pool Sharks (Episode 9)
Writer: Alan Kingsberg
Air date: 1988-12-17
Runtime: 22 min
Overview: Pool hustler Gabe challenges seductive but evil Natasha to a game. The kicker is she is a vampire and he is out for revenge against her.
Pillow Talk (Episode 10)
Writer: David Odell
Air date: 1988-12-24
Runtime: 22 min
Overview: Miles goes to great lengths to keep his bed possessed by a Lovecraftian nightmare full. But an assertive female writer who seems to fancy him challenges his status quo.
Rouse Him Not (Episode 11)
Writer: Michel Parry
Air date: 1988-12-31
Runtime: 22 min
Overview: A painter with strange visions who lives in an old cottage is visited by a warlock who used to live there. But his arrival wakes an ancient beast buried far below the cottage.
Fools' Gold (Episode 12)
Writer: Michael Reaves
Air date: 1989-01-21
Runtime: 22 min
Overview: Three construction workers find a hidden cave with treasure guarded by a troll.
Glim-Glim (Episode 13)
Writer: F. Paul Wilson
Air date: 1989-02-04
Runtime: 22 min
Overview: A mysterious disease has killed most of the people in town and Amy's father believes that the hideous alien holed up in the library is responsible. But as Amy soon learns, Glim-Glim may be their only hope for survival.
Parents from Space (Episode 14)
Writer: Peg Haller
Air date: 1989-02-11
Runtime: 22 min
Overview: An orphan named Cindy receives a blessing in disguise when her abusive foster parents are taken over by friendly aliens whose ship has broken down.
The Mother Instinct (Episode 15)
Writer: David E. Smith
Air date: 1989-02-18
Runtime: 22 min
Overview: A slimy, good-for-nothing husband tries to get money from his mother-in-law, especially when he finds out that her fruit can produce a serum that can boost the human strength. He is prepared to do anything to get rich from it, but hasn't counted on just how protective a mother can be.
Their Divided Self (Episode 16)
Writer: Michael Bishop
Air date: 1989-02-25
Runtime: 22 min
Overview: One stormy evening, Dr. Blackman tries to counsel successful professional comedians James and Robert Self, who also happen to be conjoined twins who won't stop bickering and trying to kill each other.
Taps (Episode 17) 2.0
Writer: David Misch
Air date: 1989-03-04
Runtime: 22 min
Overview: Professional dancer/actress Suzy St. Claire wants independence from her possessive dancing partner and boyfriend, so she poisons and dismembers him. However, his severed leg in a red tap shoe seeks revenge.
The Match Game (Episode 18) 4.0
Writer: David Chaskin
Air date: 1989-04-15
Runtime: 22 min
Overview: In a haunted Victorian mansion, two couples play a game where each person tells part of a ghost story about the late former owner while a match burns. The story somehow comes true, and he rises from the grave to take their lives.
Rain Dance (Episode 19)
Writer: Michael Kimball
Air date: 1989-04-22
Runtime: 22 min
Overview: During a drought, a struggling treasure hunter for profit and his vain wife get more than they bargained for when he buys a cursed rainmaking idol from an old indigenous woman who bears ill will towards the whites.
Cocoon (Episode 20) 2.0
Writer: Edithe Swensen
Air date: 1989-04-29
Runtime: 22 min
Overview: A cop asks his psychic girlfriend to help a beautiful amnesiac remember who she is. It turns out she's a woman who feeds on the life energies of her lovers in order to maintain eternal youth.
All in a Day's Work (Episode 21)
Writer: Jule Selbo
Air date: 1989-05-06
Runtime: 22 min
Overview: A man haunted by his doppelgänger asks a white witch and single mother to help him raise a demon to defeat it before it takes him and her son.
Satan in the Suburbs (Episode 22)
Writer: Jule Selbo
Air date: 1989-05-13
Runtime: 22 min
Overview: A charming devil forces a down-on-her-luck but principled suburbanite single mother to be his ghost writer, and if his biography gets published, he'll get a better position in hell. She tries to convert him to the side of goodness.
Mannikins of Horror (Episode 23)
Writer: Josef Anderson
Air date: 1989-05-20
Runtime: 22 min
Overview: In an Orwellian society, a female doctor in an insane asylum tries to help her patient, a former brilliant surgeon obsessed with giving life to his clay figurines, before the institution director deems him incurable and therefore expendable.
La Strega (Episode 24)
Writer: Michael McDowell
Air date: 1989-05-27
Runtime: 22 min
Overview: A young man tries to destroy a beautiful witch, whom he thinks has placed his mother under a deadly curse.
